Welcome Inn Again opens for business

Welcome Inn Again opens for business

Among new business licenses issued in Jefferson City

Steve Raithel, seated, has reopened Wel-com-Inn as Welcome Inn Again. His brother Eric stands ready to help fry the family's well-known chicken and prepare ham to serve to customers.

Photo by
Julie Smith

A new restaurant and lounge has opened in the Old Munichberg neighborhood of Jefferson City, bearing a similar name to the building's previous establishment.

Welcome Inn Again was opened by Steve Raithel and business partners John and Diane Lock on May 1. Located at 130 E. Dunklin, on the corner of Madison and Dunklin streets, Raithel and the Locks have completely transformed the Wel-com-Inn into a full-service restaurant and lounge, featuring Steve's Family Style menu. Raithel has owned and operated Steve's Family Style Restaurant for 21 years, first located in Loose Creek, and now at its current Lohman location since 2001.

After renovating everything in the building owned by Steve Dallmeyer - from the floors, walls, ceiling, plumbing, electrical and security - the new location features the original 30-foot bar and back bar. The new establishment employs 20 people, both full and part time.

"It is a family atmosphere, more than a bar," Raithel said. "We stop serving at 8 p.m., with the bar open until midnight."

Although the restaurant is located along the busy 100 block of East Dunklin, customers are not limited to street parking. Welcome Inn Again is renting a parking lot across the street, near Family Dollar, from the city.

When choosing to open the local restaurant, Raithel said the location was key.

"Location, location, location. This is a prime piece of property," Raithel noted of the Southside business. "We want to make this area clean and safe."

The restaurant is excited about being open on the recently restored historic block, and said each existing restaurant has its own type of food. "It just brings more people to the area," he noted.

Welcome Inn Again is now serving breakfast seven days a week from 6-10:30 a.m., and until 11 a.m. on Sundays.

"There is hardly any breakfast offered in this area," Raithel related. "And no pan fried chicken."

The restaurant will serve up Steve's famous fried chicken on Tuesday and Thursday nights only, so as not to take away from his Lohman business. All other evenings, the restaurant will offer daily specials including roast beef, meatloaf, catfish and ribeye steaks. The rest of the menu features the same home-cooked meals offered in Lohman.

Raithel hopes the new location will attract more people from the east end of town, those who don't usually travel all the way to the Lohman location. "They can come back across the river," he said of those customers he's previously served living in Osage County.

"Come see the change, and get some good home cookin' and spirits," he encouraged.